Smells like the holidays to me

It's been a while, and my first pre-New Year's resolution is to be a lot more attentive to this blog. I'm thinking of relocating it to a web address I already own, like soapmold.com or aromacrafting.com. I think I like the latter option best. The blog could be renamed to match. I think I'd like the creative freedom a lot more, too, than the options available here at Blogger.

The holidays are upon us, that's for sure. Everywhere you go, Christmas lights are blinking, winking, nodding and generally driving me crazy. The houses that are overloaded with the bounty of Christmas decorations from Target and Walmart are the ones that amaze me most. What drives people to these extremes and how big are their electric bills?

I prefer my holidays a lot more on the subtle and traditional side, which is especially handy when the economy is in the duldrums. Several large companies have already announced trimming the annual holiday party from their budgets, including my old employer, American Express. Let me tell you, those AmEx Christmas parties were legendary. No expense was spared. I'm sure cutting the parties will save the company thousands and thousands of dollars. Like I said, I prefer a low-key celebration. Egg nog and brandy, orange pomanders, Secret Santas...these are a few of my holiday favorite things. This year, to save our company a few dollars, we're having the Snowdrift Farm Christmas Party at the Wallace residence, and I'm excited! I get to help plan and implement a party for the people I work with every day. Carly, my 14 year old daughter and Robyn, my niece and SDF's General Manager and I will have a blast thinking of fun and creative ways to celebrate the season.

Speaking of orange pomanders (nice segue, huh?), I used a 50/50 blend of our Orange Pomander fragrance oil with our minty Eskimo Kisses fragrance oil and believe I have reached holiday scent blend nirvana. Just enough sweet citrus scent to make the mouth water and just enough minty goodness to refresh and rejuvenate the senses and the spirit. The idea came to me as I was dispensing these oils into our 5 mL sample bottles to include with our Goody Bags (free with every order, while they last). We'll have to see what else I come up with. I have a bottle of Holiday Balsam and a bunch of labels sitting on my desk, and Carly seems to need a job to make some spending money for her trip to the mall this weekend...